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December 4, 2012

Morgan Stanley Nabs $5.5 Million Producers From Merrill, Barclays

The eight financial advisors also have nearly $780 million in combined client assets

Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman. (Photo: AP)

Morgan Stanley (MS) said late Monday that it recruited eight advisors from Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BAC) and Barclays with a total of $5.5-plus million in yearly fees and commissions and close to $780 million in client assets under management.

Joining Morgan Stanley in Miami is the team of Fuentes, Fuentes and Hondermann, which includes Luis Fuentes, Christopher Fuentes and Rosario Hondermann.

The ex-Merrill team has combined production of close to $2 million and client assets of $373 million. The reps now report to Kevin McCarty, complex manager in Miami.

The Giere-Szucs team of advisors Brant Giere and Lisa Szucs moved to Morgan Stanley -- which is led by James Gorman -- in Akron, Ohio, from Merrill. The team, which is now supervised by branch manager Jason E. Haines, has combined yearly fees and commissions of over $1 million and has managed client assets of $210 million.

The Costanzo/Mack team also left Merrill Lynch and joined the Cleveland office of Morgan Stanley. Vince Costanzo and Rex Mack now report to branch manager Robert Hartmann. The team has total production of about $1.4 million and client assets of $115 million.

In Shrewsbury, N.J., Howard Shallcross came on board Morgan Stanley from Barclays. Shallcross, who has about $1.2 million in yearly production and has managed $80 million in client assets, is now supervised by branch manager Todd Sacks.

Last week, Raymond James (RJF) recruited an advisor from Morgan Stanley in West Virginia with yearly production of roughly $800,000 and total client assets of $215 million.

Morgan Stanley’s third-quarter results showed that the wirehouse firm, which previously ran its wealth-management operations under the Morgan Stanley Smith Barney brand, had 16,829 advisors as of Sept. 30. This figure is down 1% from 16,934 in the second quarter and 5% from 17,661 a year ago.

Average yearly fees and commissions (or production) per Morgan Stanley rep, though, rose 2% from the second quarter and 9% from a year ago to $790,000.

This figure falls below the $910,000 average of Merrill Lynch’s advisors, which number 16,076 (excluding those in consumer and business banking) as of Sept. 30. (Merrill's production level, however, is down slightly from the previous quarter and last year.)